“Nice to know you have such a high opinion of me fellas. I care about Jacks. A lot…and while I will fully admit thathowmuch I care about him already kind of scares the shit out of me…I just…Fuck…Really?!”
If looks could kill I would be surrounded by dead alphas. “You seriously think I could do that? Leave Jacks just because someone fucked up his life?”
I turn to Xan, “You think I would leave him because he’s notnormal?” I mimic his earlier air quotes.
“Cause let’s be honest, y'all aren’t exactly looking at the textbook normal omega. I’m squishy. I live alone–which is super illegal. I draw porn for a living. Lets not forget the depression, crippling social anxiety, and an aversion to physical contact.” I check each statement off on my fingers, staring into the eyes of a different alpha with each one.
“I would list my dark and disturbing sense of humor as well as my penchant for severely outdated music and antique cars as other down sides, but considering who I’m talking to, I don’t think those things are gonna be a problem.” My eyes jump from Xan to Leo to Gabe, daring any of them to challenge me.
Gabe looks like I slapped him, Leo is staring at his hands in his lap, and Xan is just grinning at me. I take a deep breath, trying to stabilize my scattered thoughts and harsh breathing.
“If that’s really all the confidence you have in me, then I’m out.” I walk towards the stairs, trying not to cry.
I hate angry crying. I can camp here overnight, and then head back tomorrow. Hell, if Xan and Gabe are gonna be gone maybe I can get Jacks to help me move my stuff over. I don’t want him to choose between his pack and me…but fuck these guys.
I skip the nest and go straight tomybed room, and like the calm fucking mature adult I am, I don’t slam the door. I do however pull all ofmynesting material over into the corner on the far side of the bed, as far from the door as I can get, before I curl up into it and cry myself to sleep.
I wake up sometime later, and the room is dark. Strong arms are wrapped around me and I recognize the coffee and cinnamon scent that is Jacks—the only alpha in this house I am not pissed at. I drift back to sleep to the sound of his purr and the feel of its deep vibrations against my back.
Chapter 31
Last night was a colossal fuck-up. I know words aren’t my strong point, but fuck, there has to be a way I could have handled that better. I dragged Xan into the garage this morning at the ass crack of dawn because neither of us were getting any sleep, we might as well do something constructive. Not that we need to worry about taking time off for Candice’s heat now, unless we can convince her that we don’t think badly of her…we just suck at explaining shit.
Xan is on his sixth cup of coffee as he sorts through the filing cabinet. He hates non-digital files, and is updating our database with anyone not currently in it, backing up all the data onto a second hard drive, and a cloud…whatever that means. Scanning it, just to make sure we have a copy, and then shredding the original. The front desk is covered in little diamonds of shredded paper from his self-imposed punishment.
Meanwhile I’m cleaning…I had to go get more degreaser, and cleaner with bleach, but the back office is now spotless, and thesmell will burn out all your nose hairs. I’m about to head into the garage to start cleaning and organizing tools when the front door opens and Leo walks in, collapsing into one of the office chairs. Xan turns to look at me, eyebrows raised.
“Jacks refused to let me in the kitchen or make breakfast, and he called me an asshole. Then he hid the keys to the Jeep, so I had to walk to the diner for breakfast.” Leo grumbles, causing Xan to snort laughter, sending tiny shreds of paper all over the floor–that I just cleaned.
“Fine, you can hang out here if you want to, but you’re gonna have to clean too.” I hand Leo the broom and dustpan, as well as the bleach spray and point him towards the waiting room.
“Lemme know if somethin’ doesn’t make sense,” I call over my shoulder.
Leo sputters incoherently, finally wailing, “But I’m just terrible at talking about emotion.” He turns quickly, pointing between Xan and me. “See. See. This is why I told the story. I can tell stories, even depressing ones. You want facts? I can do facts. You want hard data? I can do that too…I can even do an amusing anecdote about the incontinence issues of a fifteen year old Chihuahua. But I can’t fucking talk about entangling emotional issues. So I told the story, and you two were supposed to do the explanation for our concern…but you didn’t!” His shoulders are drooping and he looks panicked.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice how you conveniently left out your part inthat motherfuck’s depth perception issues, when you told the story.” Xan snarks back, returning Leo’s glare.
Leo puffs up. “Oh, my part? My part, Mr. Brakelines? Really!” Leo is vibrating with anger at this point, stalking back towards the counter.
Xan just shrugs, “I didn’t cut anybody’s brake lines. What kind of idiot do you think I am? That would get noticed. You don’t really need to anyway, just loosen the caliper a bit…just like draining the fluid on a break job. Every time the car stops…you lose a little more fluid…loosen it enough and you lose a lot. If he had been paying attention, and not drunk off his ass, he would have noticed they were feeling a bit…squishy.” Xan goes back to shredding papers while Leo and I gape at him like idiots.
Finally, nothing more to say, Leo turns, and the good doctor shuffles towards the waiting room, cleaning supplies in hand.
We work until almost five thirty without taking a break. I dread going home to an upset omega and her occasionally violent protector. Leo goes and collapses in the truck while Xan and I lock up and turn on the security system. I wonder if Jacks will still be pissed off enough not to cook…or if we should try to go by the diner to grab dinner.
“Hey, Jacks is probably least mad at you, can you message him and ask if he wants us to grab dinner on the way home?” I ask Xan while we wait for the keypad to stop beeping, confirming that the system is armed.
“I don’t know man, he has higher expectations from me, so I think he is gonna be even madder. Maybe you should do it, youarepack lead after all.” I groan knowing he’s right. I rarely give orders or have to use dominance, since our house isso chill, but if Jacks will listen to anybody right now other than Candice, it’s me.
I pull out my phone, and see a text message received 20 minutes ago, from Jacks, asking me to pick up an order he called in to the Chinese place on the other side of town. I often forget that he can feel Xan through their pack bond, and I should really stop being surprised when he makes plans around our schedule, despite not being with us.
Firing off a quick affirmative, I ask if he needs anything else. I consider asking how Candice is doing, but if heistalking to me I don’t want to rock the boat. Once I’m in the cab and behind the wheel, I let Xan know we need to stop and grab the dinner Jacks ordered, and he just smiles vaguely to himself. Leo is mumbling complaints in the backseat about fickle love-struck alphas and food. That man takes his eating seriously. Guess that much height requires regular feeding.
I pull into the parking lot at the strip mall and Xan goes in to get the pickup. He comes back carrying seven takeout boxes and I wonder briefly at the amount, but decide that is a problem for later. Soon he has everything passed off to Leo, who is sniffing at the boxes amongst continued grumbling.
Home is just a few minutes away, and when we get there we each take a couple of boxes in, with Leo taking three, one of which he insists is his.
“Whatever man, your funeral if you don’t give it over to Jacks.” He grumbles all the way to the door, but sets all the cartons on the bar top when we get inside.
